For more than eight months after the first Model 3 cars were delivered to buyers at the end of July 2017, Tesla has struggled to get Model 3 production rates up to the numbers promised by CEO Elon Musk.

In July, he tweeted that the company would be building 2,500 cars a week by the end of September and 5,000 a week by December 31.

Tesla didn't meet that 2,500-per-week number by the end of last week; the final number built at the end of the last seven days was 2,020 Model 3s. The quality of those cars, it said, was "at the highest level we have seen across all our products."

Over the next seven days, it continued, it expects its Fremont assembly plant to build a combined total of 2,000 Model 3s, plus 2,000 of the older Model S and Model X vehicles.

The company expects the Model 3 production rate to "climb rapidly through Q2," it said. And it is sticking with its target of "approximately" 5,000 Model 3s a week in "about" three months, according to its press statement.

Tesla said it had "rapidly" addressed bottlenecks in its supply chain and production process. It shut down its factory several times for short periods to upgrade production equipment.

The company credited its production team, noting that Model 3 production had exceeded combined production of the two larger, pricier cars in nine months.

Not all of the cars built in the last quarter representing deliveries to paying customers; those totaled 29,980 vehicles, "of which 11,730 were Model S, 10,070 were Model X, and 8,180 were Model 3," according to the company.

While Tesla is known for missing its vehicle deadlines, the more important question is whether the higher production is both sustainable and delivering cars of sufficiently high quality.

Tesla's release stressed the overall satisfaction of Model 3 buyers, likely in an effort to counter widespread commentary on build-quality problems and delivery flaws observed by Model 3 buyers over the first several months.